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Welcome to eWillys.com, a website for vintage jeep enthusiasts. I update this website nearly every day with jeep deals, jeep history, interesting reader projects, jeep related info, and more.
These quick searches can help you find things on eBay. People list in the wrong categories all the time, so don't be surprised to see brochures in the parts area for example.
The links to posts below show jeeps grouped by models, condition, and other ways. Some of these jeeps are for sale and others have been sold. If you are unsure whether a vehicle is still for sale or not, email me at d [at] ewillys.com for more info.
There are plenty of interesting, unusual, historic and surprising stories related to Jeeps and their owners. In addition, some of these features have nothing to do with jeeps. This link will display all featured stories starting from the latest.
Looking for parts and not sure where to go? There are a variety of large and small new and used parts sellers both online and offline.
Importantly, the allure of buying a project jeep can be romantic. The reality of restoring a jeep can be quite different, expensive and overwhelming without the right tools and resources. So, tread carefully when purchasing a "project". If you have any concerns about buying a vintage jeep, or run across a scam, feel free to contact me for help, comments or concerns .
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $450.
Thought used, this still looks fun for kids. It’s not quite stock anymore, as a bell is installed on the front bumper (sometimes an “H” is on the hood, other times a bell); the front bumper (bumper isn’t stock either). This appears to be missing the hose and ladder as well. There is more about Fire Jeep toys on the CJ-3B Page.
Here’s a semi-restored Fire Patrol jeep that I believe shows how it should actually look:
Tis the season for a snow removal commercial. This one must be about 60 years old.
An article was published late last week about a WWII veteran who restored a jeep. It’s a touching tribute by the daughter of the veteran about her father’s restoration of a WWII jeep. The one glaring issue is that the jeep isn’t a WWII jeep; it’s a CJ-2A.
https://www.limaohio.com/features/lifestyle/382930/restoration-of-workhorse-veteran-labor-of-love
This is listed at $14.00. It’s a two-sided comparison chart.
View all the information on ebay
“1960s? Jeep station wagon salesmans features slid card, size 4 by 9 inches, condition is good with light handling, any questions please send an e-mail, USA shipping will be $5.00”
Seller has it priced at $10, but is accepting offers.
View all the information on ebay
“Description – This auction is for a vintage sales mailer covering the Jeep FC-150, FC-170, Universal, Pickup truck & 4WD Utility Wagon. Not sure what year it was published.
Condition – The covers have dirt and wear as shown but the book is otherwise OK.”
(pics from my collection):
These two nearly identical jeep brochures were published in different colors a year apart. The red version was published in late 1959. The blue (or green-blue?) brochure was published in late 1960.
Differences:
Page 1: The truck at the mid-far-left of the page on the 1960 version has the ‘hockey stick’ styling, where the 1959 version has the older styling. Curiously, the wagons are identical.
Page 2: The ‘hockey’ stick 4WD utility wagon moves from the right to the left hand side on the 1960 brochure, while the older-design 2WD wagon is dropped in favor of the Harlequin-design wagon. The plain version of the truck is swapped for the ‘hockey’ stick truck. There are a variety of small text edits as well.
Page 3: Some very minor edits. The red version of the brochure is marked Form NO. 59-19, while the blue version is marked Form No. 600-19. Both brochures were part of a 20 series set of brochures both years. Once I get both sets of brochures complete, I will do a post for each year of brochures.
1959: 
1960:
This very unusual item is priced at $39. Here’s more information about the Hong Kong TV series / ‘Jeep’ partnership.
View all the information on eBay
There was a mention of both Maverick and Hong Kong TV series at the very end of this Jeep Commercial. This is one of at least three commercials Buster Keaton did for jeep.
Roger Martin shared these pics with me. This jeep is not for sale; it’s just fun to look at.
The pics are from a Facebook post. The jeep is an MB with a 1938 Plymouth DeLuxe hardtop on it and powered by a 1939 Studebaker flat six. It was built by a farmer years ago.
UPDATE: Thanks to Dave, we have some additional Koenig history:
“The son of the founder built the company up into a successful business making winches, “truck bodies”, and other stuff. His name was Herbert Koenig and he died in 2011 at age 95. An obit mentions that Koenig Iron Works (of Houston) was sold in 1978, and is now known as “RKI” and makes truck equipment (in Houston). They are RKI-US.com. Nothing indicates they care about Jeeps anymore!
Also, a Danish guy seems to have a website named Koenigwinches.com and it seems he makes parts for Koenig winches.”
=========================
Original Post November 2019:
This is a good example of simple post that spun out of control. Initially, I wanted to look at some changes in Koenig’s CJ-5 hardtop model numbers over the years; But, that then expanded to a look at twenty years (or so) of brochures.
THE EARLY YEARS:
The timeline of the early Koenig brochures are pretty easy to identify based on the jeeps used. In later years, Koenig began using numbered ‘bulletins’ to identify brochures. At first, I thought the numbered bulletins should be ordered by ascending number, but after closer examination, I the later two digits of each bulletin number reflect the year of the brochure. As you will see, other brochure elements back this theory.
Before we start, you can find installation instructions for some Koenig hardtops here.
The earliest Koenig brochure I can find was published in an early Willys-Overland Equipment brochure (1949?). The models consisted of “Full Cab” and “Half Cab”. This brochure was included among a surprisingly large number of hardtop competitors’ brochures, including Worman tops, CarsonCraft tops, Boston Top tops, Sturdee tops, Porter & Reed tops, Body V7 Works tops, Blue Star tops, Lambert tops, Hills Custom Built tops and Meyers tops (which became sears tops and a company that was different from the one that produced later Meyer tops).
This brochure circa 1949 showed half and full cabs on a CJ-3A:
This unusual photo shows Paul Revere, a descendent of THE Paul Revere, standing between his jeep and a horse.
View all the information on eBay
“This is an original press photo. Paul Revere rides again but this time it’s in a jeep and the Paul Revere is a Braintree, Mass. descendant of the famous patriot of the midnight ride. Revere is shown entering a jeep at his camp in Ayer, Mass. and saying farewell to Duffy, a cavalry horse that Revere rode around the camp before donning his uniform. Photo measures 8.5 x 6.75 inches. Photo is dated –none.”
UPDATE: This post started out as a post about Koenig hardtops, but that lead to updates on the Car Craft and Blue Star hardtops. I should have the Koenig post done for Saturday morning.
This updated post provides more info on the CARCRAFT hardtop. An early Special Equipment catalog contained two different versions of the Carson Machine & Supply Company’s Car Craft brochure. I’ve added a third brochure at the bottom which I’d found off of eBay years ago. Here are two real-world examples: one jeep and another jeep.
This brochure was published back in 2017. It features a CJ-2A and does not have the stylized CARCRAFT branding. Instead, it shows a plain “Car Craft” brand with a space added.
This is the first time I’ve published this brochure. It includes the new CARCRAFT branding and used a CJ-3A jeep:
This brochure was available on eBay in 2013. It appears to be the company’s signature brochure for the hardtop. I haven’t tracked down another copy:
Rooney77’s Blue Star Top for sale
UPDATE: This post from 2014 has been updated with additional brochure examples. See all the Blue Star hardtops documented thus far:
(From 2014) This Blue Star aluminum top was built by the Blue Manufacturing Company, founded in Kansas by Max Blue circa 1946. ‘Blue Star’ was the brand name used on several products he produced. There’s some conflicting information, but it appears In 1946 Blue Manufacturing was building aluminum airline parts. About that time, as a hobby, Max began building aluminum boats. He also tried manufacturing and selling jeep hard tops.
Demand was so great for the boats that in 1948 he leased space and built boats full-time. Meanwhile, he either sold or abandoned the jeep top business altogether. Given only a few Blue Star tops have surfaced over the last few years, I imagine he didn’t sell too many of them.
However, Max was able to sell boats. By 1953 the company was building 1,000 boats a year. In July of 1953 he moved the company from Goddard, Kansas, to Miami, Oklahoma. There are various articles into 1960 that talk about the Blue Manufacturing Company. However, the company appears to have ceased boat production in 1964.
A picture of Max Blue in the center of the photo. http://newspaperarchive.com/us/missouri/joplin/joplin-globe/1960/04-17/page-6
This brochure featuring a CJ-2A is the earliest example I have of this top. It was part of an early industrial equipment book.
Here’s another example, this time with a CJ-3A:
Here’s an ad that was featured on eBay.
Here’s an example of the logo badge:
Here is an example of the half tops:
Actual top:
Here are some photos of actual full hardtops:
During the summer of 2013 a seller on eBay had two jeeps with Blue Star tops for sale:
Jeep 1)
Jeep 2)
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay.
Good photo of a Bantam BRC-40 laying in wait during some war games in Longview, Washington.
“This is an original press photo. Trucks – United States. One of the army’s newest and most lethal weapon carriers is this tiny “jeep” or 1/4 ton truck, mounting a machine gun. Behind the gun is Private Earl Bever and at the wheel is Corporal Anton Stefanski, of the 32nd Infantry of Fort Ord’s 7th Division, now engaged with the defending/Blue forces in resisting the “Red” attack in southwestern Washington. Longview. Photo measures 10 x 8.25 inches. Photo is dated 8-21-1941.”
This photo shows a jeep being carried up to the remote city of Valais, Switzerland.
View all the information on ebay
“This is an original press photo. Air Lift: Iserables, a mountain village with a population of 1500 located in the Canton of Valais, Switzerland, is so completely isolated that it must depend on this aerial cable car to get supplies from the rest of the world. In addition to the jeep, the special attachment under the aerial car has carried everything from a baby carriage to a cow. Photo measures 8.25 x 10.25 inches. Photo is dated –none.”
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was $500.
Jordan spotted this unusual combo. This package creates an early jet powered boat using a Kermath modified L-134 and a Hanley Hydrojet. I’ve included a Kermath brochure and links to the development of the Hydrojet by Keenan Hanley at the bottom of the post.
“Willys Jeep engine block casting number 804380, and Hanley Kermath HydroJet. I’ve never attempted to start. $500”
Rear view of the W-O Canvas Top on a VEC CJ-2A. The PTO pump looks to my untrained eye to be an MP Universal Jeep Packaged Pump Model 12M-WJ.
UPDATE II: I’ve added a second version of the W-O Canvas Top brochure (tan brochures). they come from a Willys-Overland Equipment Book that, based on other brochures contained in that book, was likely published earlier than the brochures that appeared in the original version of the post.
This jeep brochure from an early Willys-Overland Special Equipment catalog highlights the first production soft top for the CJ-2A. It was labeled a W-O Canvas Top. The material used wasn’t your average canvas, at least according to the brochure. Instead, it was 10oz soldenized duck. That description meant nothing to me, so I attempted to decipher it.
These two brochures were published in a Willys Industrial Equipment book. It appears Willys-Overland changed up the name slightly to the Willys Canvas Top, though in the text the W-O Canvas Top name remains the same as above.
The biggest mystery was the term “soldenized”. Not even the internet knows what “soldenized” means. The fact that the term probably describes a means of mildew or waterproofing makes sense, and Robert Ackerson described it similarly in his jeep book, but that’s more a description of the result of the process, not a description of the process itself.
This appears to be an introductory mailer for the FC-170.
View all the information on eBay
“Hello, You are looking at an ORIGINAL bi-fold Postcard
1957 Forward Control JEEP FC-170
Eccher’s Jeep, Ferndale, Pa.”
I suppose the timing of this article is appropriate, given those of us in the north half of the blue ball are plunging into winter quickly (at least the weather in Washington State feels wintery), as a recent Smithsonian Magazine article on the Zamboni Company featured several photos I hadn’t seen of Jeep-based Zamboni vehicles. Here’s the article: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-zamboni-changed-game-ice-rinks-180973352/
The article also included this ad featuring the CJ-3B as Model D from the Zamboni Company’s archives:
If you are not familiar with the use of jeeps as early Zambonis, check out my post about the various jeep models that were used for which Zamboni machines. The CJ-3B Page also has background information about the Zamboni Ice Resurfacers.
If you really like pics of Zamboni machines, check out the Zamboni: The Coolest Machines on Ice.
UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay.
This mid 1980s Decanter looks to be in great condition and includes the box, also in really nice condition.
“THIS JIM BEAM REGAL CHINA DECANTER IS IN GOOD CONDITION FOR ITS AGE. IT WAS PRODUCED IN 1986.
NO CHIPS OR CRACKS AND THE DECANTER
IS STILL MINT IN THE ORIGINAL BOX.
IN LIKE NEW CONDITION…..”
What I like best about these images is that the eBay seller takes the time to include the names of the soldiers. You never know when some offspring will search and find the photo and write in the comments, “Hey, that’s my [insert relative affiliation]”.
View all the information on EBay
“1951 Press Photo Jeep driver and soldier show how jeep can evacuate casualties. This is an original press photo. A jeep can go where an ambulance can’t. Sometimes the large army ambulance cannot be brought in close enough for litter bearers to load a casualty right in the field. In that case, a jeep is used to evacuate the patient. Here 1st Lieutenant Lawrence a. Doherty, Cincinnati, Ohio, and driver Bill Farrell, Houston, Texas, demonstrate the jeep method of removal, with Leonard Bell, Jr., Pigott, Arkansas playing “casualty” for the occasion.Photo measures 10 x 8.25inches. Photo is dated 05-24-1951.”
Florida’s Tampa Bay Times published an article about local mobile businesses a couple weeks ago. One of those businesses included a beautiful 1964 FJ-3A ice cream truck, run by Carlos Velez: The Clara Rose Ice Cream Truck.
Before he opened his business, Carlos worked as a Sheriff’s deputy at a maximum security jail. Wanting a change of life, he decided to open an ice cream business, but one that was of a better quality than the standard ice cream distributors. That led him to search for an FJ. He found the perfect one and it’s a beautiful rig as you can see below.
Learn more about his FJ in the article: https://www.tampabay.com/arts-entertainment/fun/shopping/2019/10/22/9-mobile-businesses-wheeling-around-tampa-bay/
There’s a proposal to create a national registry for unique or historically significant vehicles (and boats and planes) with documented stories. Importantly, such a registry would not keep the owners of such vehicles from being sold, driven or even modified. The Library of Congress would be the keeper of the documents, specs, photos, and other information.
If the national registry becomes a law, twenty-six vehicles already listed by the Historic Vehicle Association (HVA) would be the first vehicles added to the registry. Two of the vehicles are jeeps: The Ford Pygmy (currently at the U.S. Veteran’s Museum in Huntsville, Alabama) and Ronald Reagan’s 1962 CJ-6 (along with one of my personal favorites, the Tucker prototype).
I found this M-38A1 Installation Instructions Conversion Power Plant Heater Kit 32 page manual on eBay. It seems a well done and detailed look at how to install the heater kit. Hopefully, someone can use the information.
UPDATE: As Mark notes, and I missed, the truck pictured is a 1954 at the earliest, so the pic must have been taken after that.
This is likely a reprint, but it’s still a neat photo. It also show the early “J” logo sign. I’m not a Packard expert, but I’d say based on the grille on the car in the window of the auto shop that this photo must have been taken circa 1954-56.
View all the information on eBay
This is the cheapest of several postcards showing this parade in Rocky Ford, Colorado.
View all the information on eBay
“1940s E. C. Kropp Linen postcard: “Street Scene, Rocky Ford Colorado. North Main Street showing part of the main business district. Crowds of people watching the big parade on Fair Day. Rocky Ford is one of the leading towns in the Arkansas Valley.” Jeeps and tanks (in background further down the street) are in the view. Never mailed.”
